Much like the offensive line on a football team, a Major League bullpen can make or a break a club despite the often unrecognizable or unheralded names. The general fan may only be able to name one or two of the arms in the Pittsburgh Pirates ‘pen, but if you have really been paying attention, you ought to know the importance of this group to the team’s success over the past couple of seasons.
In 2015, manager Clint Hurdle will have a myriad of quality options for the various scenarios he will likely come across most nights. Pitching coach Ray Searage, widely being considered as one of the best at his craft in today’s MLB, has a strong rotation featuring young fireball ace-to-be Gerrit Cole and veteran lefty Francisco Liriano and righty A.J. Burnett.
To protect leads or keep the team in a close game in the late innings, the Pittsburgh bullpen will look again to closer Mark Melancon, who took over the role full-time last summer when Jason Grilli’s remarkable run fizzled out.
Grilli was, of course, traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Ernesto Frieri, who did not pan out. When someone does not work in a bullpen role, it is important that they are replaced by new additions or depth within the organization. The Pirates have done both in the past several months, starting with the trade acquisition of Antonio Bastardo, formerly of the Philadelphia Phillies. Bastardo used to be considered a potential starter when he was first called up to Philadelphia in 2009, but he was converted to a reliever the next season.
He has posted mostly good numbers, especially in the strikeout column, but does come with some baggage.In 2013, his name was included in the Biogenesis scandal, earning him a 50-game suspension for using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
Along with Bastardo, joining Melancon at the back end of the Pittsburgh bullpen staff will be Jared Hughes and Tony Watson, the latter of whom was recently named by MLB.com as one of the best ten relief pitchers in baseball heading into this season. Watson was exquisite throughout the majority of last year, going 10-2 with a 1.63 earned run average (ERA). He is projected as being a potential future closer, but the lefty will turn 30 in May and is an excellent fit in the eighth-inning set-up role for Hurdle.
With such a seemingly reliable and even dominant core, perhaps the only questions entering the season will be who is in middle or long relief. Emerging out of basically nowhere late last season was John Holdzkom, a 27-year old California native who has a New Zealand-born father. Holdzkom is listed by the team as being 6’7″, no doubt an imposing figure on the mound.
He was signed by the team in 2014 after toiling in an independent league, known for his control struggles but occasional blazing speed and unhittable movement. He displayed that in his early September debut against the Cardinals, likely having performed well enough in a relatively small sample size to earn a spot on this year’s roster.
Whether the team goes with a six or seven-man bullpen out of spring training is still long to be determined and may depend on the health of the arms there and in the starting rotation come the first week of April, so after Melancon, Watson, Hughes, Bastardo and Holdzkom, it remains to be seen who of the following may join the club in Cincinnati on Opening Day: Stolmy Pimentel, Bobby LaFromboise, Casey Sadler, Radhames Liz, Brandon Cumpton, Vance Worley, Jeff Locke.
Worley and Locke are currently listed as being in the rotation on the team depth chart, though one or both of those spots could also go to Cumpton, Liz or even Clayton Richard, a spring training invitee who is coming off shoulder surgery that forced him to miss most of the 2013 and 2014 seasons. A once promising member of the San Diego Padres rotation, Richard could be a threat for a rotation spot or even in long relief.
Much remains to be seen with training camp on the horizon, but there is no doubt that the Pirates have depth and options galore, so expect a good showing again from this unit during the upcoming season. Pitchers and catchers report to Bradenton, FL next Wednesday, February 18, and begin workouts the next day.
